A review by sydapel
When No One Is Watching, by Alyssa Cole

dark informative tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I was super looking forward to this being a unicorn amongst the list of thrillers I am always let down by. Unfortunately, either just because of hype or that this is really not a genre for me perhaps ever, I was pretty disappointed. I will say that the sister element of racism and gentrification is handled very well, and I had a couple of moments (as a white person living in a city that is increasingly gentrified) where I had to reexamine a lot of things I thought were true. The plot feels very realistic, but my issue is mainly that it took far too long (in my opinion) to get to it's point - aka the thriller stuff. Sydney and Theo also were not characters I felt myself really rooting for, mostly because it takes so much of the book for us to get to know them. 

TLDR - if you like mystery/thrillers and haven't checked this one out, do it! I, however will be loving in my historical romance bubble for a bit more.
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